


Nightmares

by 3laxx



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya Césaire Is The Best, Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Overprotective Adrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-11-30 21:49:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11472366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3laxx/pseuds/3laxx
Summary: Adrien has terrible nightmares and slowly becomes desperate. Things escalate (I wonder why they always do in my fics... Meh, so many mysteries!) and he soon confuses his friends by acting really strange around a certain bluenette. Adrienette, slight DJWifi and rated M for language and serious injuries (although it's just dreams and I'm a little overcautious)





	1. The Mime

**Author's Note:**

> This here is a nine chapter fanfic, Adrien centered, about his nightmares and when he slowly but surely falls for Marinette... Poor boy gets more and more confused

_She looked at him, pleading. But he couldn't do anything but stare._

_This time, it was the Mime. He held her close to him, pressing the dagger to her throat, grinning._

_“Marinette...”, Adrien breathed, terrified._

_She gulped and a small drop of blood escaped from a cut on her neck. He reached out to her but the Mime took a step back, pulling Marinette with him._

_“Chat...”, she cried, reaching out to him as well. He couldn't move his legs because of fear and remained on the spot. Their fingers almost touched.  
“Chat, please! I don't wanna die!”_

_The Mime just grinned more, taking her away from him again. Now, Marinette began to struggle, began fighting him._

_“No, no, Chat! I don't want to die, I don't want to die! Please help, please,_ Adrien _!!”_

_He wanted to assure her that everything was going to be alright, that he would save her. But he couldn't say anything, he just watched helplessly._

_“Adrien,_ please _!!”_

_The Mime moved, cutting open her throat. It was one cruel, incredibly fast action that ended Marinette's life._

_Adrien's eyes widened as she fell to the floor of his room with a choking sound. She became still and her body gave up. A red pool formed itself around her and Adrien screamed when the Mime looked up, into his eyes._

 

Bathed in sweat, Adrien awoke with a yelp and tears streaming down his face.

“Mari-... Marinette-...”, he sobbed, burying his head between his knees. He felt Plagg wiggling himself into Adrien's bunker of blanket and appeared in front of him, hugging his nose.

“This dream again?”, he asked concerned, trying to calm his chosen.

Adrien nodded and tried to stop the trembling but couldn't.

“P-Plagg, she-... Everytime-... Mime-... I-I really t-tried th-this time...!”

The Kwami nodded, burying his face on the boy's cheek, not caring about the wet tears that just wouldn't stop flowing.

“It's alright, kid. She's fine, believe me, and you and Ladybug defeated the Mime a long time ago. She's okay and probably sleeping.”

Adrien nodded but didn't stop sobbing.

“You wanna call her, kiddo?”

He shook his head, clenching his teeth.

“W-Would love to, b-but sh-she would th-think I'm a c-c-creep.”

“Uh, you're probably right... But you have to relax or you won't get any sleep tonight and you need it. You have school.”

Adrien nodded but remained in his position, still crying. Plagg sighed. He needed to get the boy to sleep.

 

Adrien didn't get any sleep that night anymore. He had stayed sitting up, weeping into his knees, trying to get the pictures out of his head. He had lifted his gaze once, only to check if he saw Marinette lying there. He was slightly calmer when he saw that she was not here but probably sleeping in her own bed, safe and sound.

Now, he was in his father's car, driving to school. Nathalie next to him noticed there was something up with him but didn't speak up. Probably because he had answered as short as possible the whole morning already.

When he arrived at school and said a quick goodbye to his father's assistant, he saw Marinette running over the street, eager to get to school early.

He smiled and waved which send her stumbling and falling right into his arms.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! A-Adrien, I d-didn't mean to-...”

The boy just grinned and tried as inconspicuous as possible to check her pulse. He lifted her to her feet again, placing his hand on her chest, feeling the steady though a bit fast heartbeat against his palm. He sighed relieved which resulted in a deep blush on her cheeks.

“I-... I'm just glad you're alright.”, he smiled and hoped she hadn't actually felt that he had checked if she was alive.

“Haha... Y-Yeah-... I'm mostly always often alright when I'm failing _UH_ falling I am so, so sorry for falling fo- _UH_ on you, A-Adrien-...”

“It's alright, really.”, he grinned and walked up the stairs with her, partly to make sure she won't fall again, partly to make sure she really was alive and in no danger to life.

She cast him a side glance and he saw concern sneaking on her face.

“Have you been crying?”, almost immediately after she asked her hands flew up to her face, covering her mouth, “I-I'm so sorry. I-I sh-shouldn't have asked... Th-That's none of my business, I-... Sorry...”

He grinned, putting a hand on her back, trying to calm her. It was really more to feel her warmth and to know she was still alive.

She blushed in an even deeper shade of red, looking to the ground awkwardly.

“No, it's alright. Thank you for asking. I just-... I hadn't had that good of a night. Really, thanks for your concern, that's really sweet of you.”, she smiled and nodded, climbing up the stairs to their classroom, trying not to fall again. He kept his hand on her back and looked after her feet more than after his, despite of his sleep deprivation.

“O-Oh, okay-... Wh-What is it?”

“Uh oh, haha, I just really don't want to talk about it.”

Instantly, Marinette furiously shook her head and laughed too loud.

“No-no! It's alright! You don't have to talk about it. Of course not, haha-...”

“Thanks, Marinette. I really appreciate your kindness.”

They entered the classroom together and he heard Alya choking on water. Out of a reflex, he grabbed Marinette by the shoulders and held her close to him, trying to protect her from any harm that may come to her.

_... As she fell to the floor of his room with a choking sound._

He tried to get the image out of his head, tried to ignore the blood that came out of the cut on her throat.

Marinette gasped and he tensed, looking out for any Akuma that was a possible danger to her.

After a few moments he loosened the grip on the girl, releasing her entirely when the coast was clear. She turned to him beet red and with a questioning look on her face.

“Uh, sorry. I just-... There was uh-... I'm going to my seat now.”, he mumbled, his face heating up as well. Adrien sat down next to Nino, leaving Marinette at the door dumbstruck. His best friend punched him on his arm lightly, a concerned look on his face.

“Man, you look out of it today. The dark circles under your eyes are threatening to kill me already. What's up?”

Adrien sighed, watching Marinette as she slowly walked to her seat, her eyes looking dreamy.

“Didn't sleep well. Sorry, man.”

“Dreams?”

The blonde model nodded, not reflecting on it further so that Nino dropped the topic. He laid his head into his arms and a few minutes later, Mme. Bustier came in to start the lesson.

He tried his best not to fall asleep during the school day.

And he had failed. Luckily, Nino had woken him up so that nobody would notice but he had still fallen asleep in class. He had to change something about his nightmares.


	2. The Bubbler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now it's getting a little more personal for Adrien

_The Bubbler grinned, his hands gripping Marinette tightly by the shoulders, not letting her go. She screamed and cried out his name, both his names, Chat and Adrien._

_He still couldn't move._

_“Not so strong now, aren't we?”_

_Adrien looked up at the Bubbler, his feet unmoving, tears burning in his eyes._

_“Marinette, we're gonna get through this. Please, don't be afraid!”_

_“No, Chat! I don't wanna die! Save me!”_

_His eyes began to water and he tried his best to move but found himself still being unable to._

_“Please, stop moving Mari. He's gonna hurt you if you-...”_

_“I'll hurt her regardless!”_

_“Bubbler, I'll give you my Miraculous, I'll do anything!”_

_The akumatized victim just cackled, throwing back his head and pressed the knife harder to her throat, resulting in a scared cry._

_“Marinette, remain calm, please...”_

_“I don't wanna die, Chat! Chat,_ Chat _, I wanna live, I don't want to die, save me! Adrien,_ Adrien _, save me!!”_

_The Bubbler grinned and slit her throat open. Blood escaped the wound and she fell to the floor, choking and crying. Eventually, her body stopped working and she was dead, sprawled on the green grass. Her eyes became empty and she was gone._

_“No! NO! Marinette,_ Marinette _, please, COME-...”_

 

“-... BACK TO ME!”

Adrien suddenly sat upright in his bed and shivered uncontrollably.

“Kiddo?”

Without another warning, he doubled over and began sobbing, harder than the nights before. Plagg flew over and sat down on his arm, looking at his boy sadly.

“Adrien, seriously, you should get help. Maybe from Marinette herself. Perhaps then your dreams will go away?”

All the blonde could do was to shake his head and remain in his seating position until dawn.

 

“Dude, you look horrible. Seriously, is there _anything_ I can do for you?”

_Back off from Marinette_ , Adrien thought to himself and glanced over to his best friend, checking if Nino would be the bluenette any closer than he himself.

“No, it's alright. Thank you, Nino.”

“If you say so...”, Nino shot a helpless gaze over to Alya who shrugged, "Hi Marine-...”

“Hey Marinette!”, Adrien fell the boy next to him in his words, waving to the girl who just entered the classroom, “Good morning!”

He received a confused look from both Alya and Nino and made Marinette blush again.

“H-Hey A-Adrien-...”, she stuttered, waving him as well and sat down on her seat behind him.

He turned around, facing her smiling.

“Hey, you look good, how did you sleep?”

She looked caught off guard and opened her mouth to say something but found herself unable to. After a nudge from Alya, she finally responded.

“F-F-Fine, just-... Just fine, _uuh_... H-How did you s-sleep?”

“Hm, same as yesterday. Tried to cover up the dark circles but...”, he pointed under his eyes grinning, “Didn't quite work, eh?”

Her expression changed to a concerned look and she leaned forward.

“You know, that's n-not really he-healthy. Maybe you should t-talk to s-someone about it?”

_She is so cute when she worries about me_ , Adrien thought, _maybe I could really talk to her about these nightmares? Maybe she would understand..._

“Nah, I'm gonna be fine... I bet it's gonna be over in a few nights.”

She shot him a glance and pressed her lips together.

“S-Sure you a- Uh, Are y-you sure?”

He smiled and reached out to lightly touch her hand that rested on her desk, stroking it to feel she was warm and alive, unlike his Dream-Marinette.

“Don't worry.”, he smiled wider when her eyes shot open and she blushed again, “Not about me. I'm fine.”

“I-I-If y-you s-sa-say so...”, she stuttered, attempting to smile but failed.

He grinned and winked at her before he turned to the front again and sat down to pay attention to the lesson that was about to begin.

After ten minutes a note flew onto his desk, it was from Nino.

 

**Nino:** Hey, dude, what was that with Marinette?

 

He rolled his eyes and wrote back. Normally he didn't do that in class but his best friend had made him curious.

 

**Adrien:** I just made Smalltalk man. What's so special?

 

**Nino:** Nothing, nothing, I'm just saying... She might interpret something more into this.

 

**Adrien:** What more?

 

“The boys in the first row, would you care to take part in this lesson?”, Mme. Mendeleiev stood in front of their desk, her hands in her hips and a frown on the face.

“Of course, Mme. Mendeleiev!!”, they both blurted out in unison, “It won't happen again!”

She nodded and let them be, but only because Adrien was the best student in math class and was always polite and reserved. She believed that he would stop whatever he had been doing that had nothing to do with the lesson.

Little did she know that Adrien was curious now that Nino had written that.

He nudged Nino and gestured to the little piece of paper that his best friend had hid under his notepad. The brunette nodded and pulled it out to answer his message.

 

**Nino:** You're oblivious, aren't you?

 

**Adrien:** Why? What is it, spill!

 

**Nino:** Man, open your eyes and look at her from a different point of view...?

 

**Adrien:** What?

 

**Nino:** Don't you see her face when she looks at you?

 

**Adrien:** Red? :D

 

It was meant as a joke. But when Nino just nodded and pulled his eyebrows up, Adrien understood. He had seen enough Anime to realize what his best friend meant. Marinette had a crush. _On him!_

Quickly, he got out another piece of paper and wrote back.

 

**Adrien:** No way!

 

**Nino:** Yes way! Since you came to school.

 

The blonde leaned back and ran a hand through his hair, not able to stop smiling.

She liked him!

For a while he had thought that she didn't because she hadn't spoken to him like she spoke to others. Maybe she had still been angry because of the chewing gum. Then, he believed she was just shy because he was new at school, but Alya was also and the girls had become best friends the day they met each other.

Another theory had been that she had been intimidated by his last name. After all, his father was one of the – if not _the_ – most famous designers in Paris.

But everything had been proven wrong by different occasions:

She obviously had forgiven him the chewing gum incident and it wasn't that she didn't like him either, after all she worried for him not getting enough sleep.

And the way she had talked to his father on the derby competition had impressed him. Not even he, Gabriel Agreste's own son, dared to speak up to him like this.

It was because she had a crush on him! Now it all made perfect sense.

Of course she was stuttering and blushing when he tried to talk to her or wanted to get to know her better.

Was that also because he kept having these dreams?

Instantly he shook his head.

No, that was him and him alone. He had just now found out that she liked him and his nightmares had been torturing him for almost a week now.

But he couldn't stop thinking about her, about her and him, about her actually being in love with him and about, well, being with her.

Marinette was a kind and smart girl, always putting others before her and always insisting on justice. She really reminded him of Ladybug sometimes...

_Ladybug!_

He was in love with her, wasn't he?

His thoughts ran with such a speed at that thought, it was almost too fast for him as well.

He loved her, but she was definitely out of his league. And she didn't even want to be with him. She kept pushing him away, kept her distance.

Of course his heart still leapt into his throat and his face heated up when he looked at her or when she was a bit closer to him than usual, but he really began doubting.

Marinette wanted to be with him, probably more than anything else according to her cute behavior in front of him. She was wonderful and pretty and caring...

Ladybug was bold and clever and brave, but was she really the one?

He shook his head in disbelief.

Where were his thoughts leading him? Of course she was the one. She was his true love... His true love who didn't want to be with him.

Marinette could be bold, clever and brave too, he realized. She had so much of Ladybug but Ladybug had so little of Marinette.

Could the cute girl sitting behind him in class, his princess, really be that much closer to him, maybe even already, than his lady?

His eyes widened as he understood that a princess outranked a lady.

Could she really be... No, she couldn't! He was a knight and knights normally ended up with ladies, not princesses. Only the ones in fairy tales got princesses and his life definitely wasn’t a fairy tale.

He loved his lady, his partner in fighting Akumas, his ally in fighting Hawkmoth. He loved her! But then again...

Why did he constantly want to turn around and look at Marinette?

Why did he have the sudden urge to get to know her better, to talk to her, to-... Make sure she was safe?

Maybe that was just his nightmares, his fear of her being killed. He was being overprotective, for sure. That’s why he caught himself glancing at Nino from time to time, because of the Bubbler tonight. Who would not worry when a classmate died every night in someone's dreams?

But he felt that there was something else, something deeper that seemed to draw him towards the sweet girl that lived above the bakery by the school. He knew that there was something that begged him to look at her with different eyes.

Was it for her sake? Was it because she liked him and he didn't want to disappoint her, to make her happy and be with her?

Was it because he couldn't be with his lady? Because he thought Marinette could fill the hole in his heart Ladybug had torn in?

Was he just yearning for love, begging for someone to see in him the boy he was and not the young man his father wanted him to be?

But did she want to get to know him for who he really was, the dorky, pun-loving gamer and Anime freak or did she see him as the fencing and Chinese-speaking model that he played for everyone?

He didn't think she would not want to get to know him, for that she was way too kind. Maybe she would like him for who he was and not for the obeying son he pretended to be. After all, she defended Chat Noir wherever she could when people took him as Ladybug's sidekick rather than her partner again and Chat Noir was way more him than Adrien had ever been able to be.

And he wouldn't have to worry about their secret identity if he wanted to be with Ladybug. She didn't want him to know who she was and didn't want to know who he was, so they would be forced to have a relationship based on lies and a lack of trust.

He knew of course that she didn't want to reveal because she wanted to keep him and her family and friends safe but basically it was a lack of trust. In him.

He knew that. In her eyes, Chat was just a dorky flirt, not serious enough to be trusted with something as important as a secret identity other than his own.

Additionally, they would have to keep their relationship a secret because of the media and especially because of Hawkmoth, along with the struggle to keep their identities to themselves in front of them as well as in front of the public.

With Marinette he could be together, as Adrien. He could hold hands with her, could be seen with her, could be happy...

As long as his father approved. He could imagine his father forbidding him to have a relationship with her because she was no famous personality and would only ruin the Agreste's name. And he was still a famous model and son, he had fans and a few of them could be pretty... Quick tempered.

But regardless, he could be with her without worrying that they would accidently discover their identities. He could be with her and ask what her favorite color was and he would get an answer. He could ask when her birthday was and she could give him a date. He could meet her parents and they could hang out with friends and they would be able to kiss in public and he could go eat dinner with her somewhere nice and-...

Math class was over.

He had spent the whole time thinking about Ladybug and Marinette and who he would rather be with. A bit cruel when he thought about it like this now.

Nino nudged his shoulder to get him moving and Adrien flinched away, suddenly remembering his dream from last night again. The Bubbler.

Out of an impulse he turned around and someone smaller than him bumped against his chest. He smiled down at Marinette who turned red the second she recognized that shirt.

“Oh, u-uh... A-Adrien! I-I'm-...”

He wrapped his arms around her to steady her and smiled even wider. All his doubts about Ladybug and Marinette had vaporized into thin air and he was just glad to have her in his arms.

“It's alright. I'm always happy to catch you.”

“T-Too nice o-of you th-thank you…”

He nodded and held her in his arms a bit longer than necessary, then let her go out together with Alya. The brunette had looked at them the whole time and now giggled into Marinette’s ear, making her wave at her best friend and shush her.

“She’s cute, eh?”, Nino put a hand on his shoulder and grinned.

“Marinette? Yeah.”, _don’t you dare and touch her today._

“What, I meant Alya. But Marinette’s cute too.”

“Huh, guess so…”, _Nino, I swear to god, if you keep-…_

“C’mon bro, we’ve got chemistry now.”

“Yeah, I’m coming.”, _you’re glad you don’t have chemistry with Marinette._

 

Lunch Break arrived and Nino had the great idea to go out together.

That is if he stayed away from Marinette far enough for Adrien to enjoy this. He would make sure they would not be too close to each other.

The only problem was that Marinette had been with Nino in the same class since Kindergarten. They were pretty close and of course neither of them had any fears of touching.

A slight brush of their shoulders, one smile too bright, a playful punch against the shoulder, it all made Adrien want to jump on his best friend, drag him to the next graveyard and bury him alive.

Nino joked around again while they walked down the street and Marinette doubled over laughing. Adrien moaned silently and watched the brunette male with suspicion. Alya walked next to him instead of trying to fit on the sidewalk along with the other two in front and her gaze wandered over to him. Pulling together her eyebrows, she slowed her step and lightly held him back on his sleeve to get a bit of distance between their friends and them.

“Everything alright, Adrien?”, she questioned frowning as soon as they were four steps behind the two laughing teenagers, “You look like you could shoot Nino right on the spot.”

“Huh? Oh, no! I just-… I didn’t sleep well last night. Sorry, I wasn’t aware.”

She nodded, still trying to make the distance bigger between them but Adrien refused to be farther than five steps away from Marinette.

“You sure you okay? In the morning you sounded like you had something weighing you down that kept you from sleeping.”

He sighed and his shoulders slumped.

“Well, yeah. I’m dreaming weird stuff.”

“Nightmares?”

“Yeah. You know about interpreting dreams?”

Alya looked thoughtful for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Well, I know the general things. The purpose of a dream is to make you aware of something your subconscious noticed. It’s the only way for your conscious and your subconscious to communicate and if it’s important, the dream repeats itself until it’s either forgotten or out of the way, solution or no solution doesn’t matter.”

He bit on his lip, wishing the walk to the little café would last longer than the few meters they still had ahead of them.

“And do you know about interpreting certain dreams? Like falling means something or flying or stuff like that?”

“Hm, if you’re willing to tell me what your dream is about then I could maybe interpret something but you don’t have to.”

Adrien nodded, then patted her shoulder thankfully.

“Maybe that’s something for the way back, if you want to listen to me?”

She grinned up at him and entered the little café.

“Of course.”


	3. The Bubbler (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Pick-up lines battle between friends... Right?

They got comfortable seats that shed them from the cooling breeze of the beginning fall and ordered themselves something to eat and soda. Adrien had made sure both Alya and he sat next to Marinette so she sat across from Nino. It was the farthest he could be away from her on a round table the blonde decided and was satisfied when he could get Nino to talk about the new videogame he had bought on the other day. The girls talked about something different and for a moment, Nino and Marinette were distracted from each other.

“Dude, you even listening?”

“Oh… Of course. Just spaced out by your last words, could you repeat them? Sorry, I’m just a bit tired.”, Adrien grinned sheepishly and Nino nodded, already continuing to list the pros and cons of his epic new game.

Their lunch was served and Adrien was even more pleased to see that Alya winked at him, grinning conspicuously. He smiled to himself while eating and still listening to Nino. As long as he wasn’t touching or joking with Marinette, the blonde could relax. However, one comment of the boy about the game brought Alya into the discussion and Marinette remained silent.

That was his chance.

“Hey.”, he gently nudged her elbow and she almost dropped her fork.

“S-Sorry I’m so j-jumpy!”, she hastily apologized but he put a calming hand on the small of her back and chuckled.

“Nah, it’s alright. I am pretty intimidating, I would jump too.”

She laughed and it came from her heart. Probably she liked it when he showed a bit of Chat Noir’s attitude? She seemed to like his superhero form at least.

“Well, are you here more often?”, he wiggled his eyebrows and she laughed even harder.

“Why yes, but if that was a pick-up line it was pretty lame.”, she seemed to realize what she just said and turned red again, “Well, if it w-was one-… I-… I d-didn’t say it was but it c-certainly sounded like-… No, what I say to mean is _uh_ , no, mean t-to say-…”

He laughed and leaned back.

“It was an attempt, yes. But you’re too smart for me, I have to do better.”

Her eyes widened and then slowly, she giggled sweetly. He hoped she finally would relax around him when he was showing more of the dorky boy than of the reserved model.

“Well, w-what do you have?”

“Hm, how about this one…?”, he cleared his throat, then put his elbow on the arm of his chair and pulled up one eyebrow, trying to look as ridiculous as possible, all the while lifting his glass, “Your name must be Coca Cola, because you're _so-da-licious_.”

She burst out with laughter and shook her head, unable to hold back.

“Oh my gosh!”

“Oh, did you see what’s on the menu? _Me-n-U_!”

“Adrien-…”

“If you’d be a vegetable, you’d be a _cutecumber_!”

She rolled her eyes at that one, still not able to contain her bubbly giggling.

“Did you look these up on the internet? They certainly sound like it.”

He laughed as well, leaning back into his seat.

“Me- _ouch_ , I made them up of course. You’ll never know my internet history!”

She laughed.

“You’ve got any more of them?”

“Tons! I don’t want any coffee because you already woke my senses.”

“Oh my gooooood-…”

“Guess what I’m wearing? The smile you gave me.”

She put a hand over her heart, still laughing.

“And the best one yet! But you have to play along.”, he waited for her to calm down a little, then asked her, “Are you an angel?”

She brushed the tears out of her eyes and shook her head.  
“Not that I know of, I’m sorry.”

He suddenly fake sneezed but before she could say bless you, he reached out and pretended to grab something from behind her ear, running his fingers down her jaw. Then he winked and formed his hand like a gun pointing at her.

“I think you are, because I’m allergic to feathers.”

That set her off laughing once again. This time, she slid down in her seat, and couldn’t come up again because she was laughing so hard.

He felt a slap on his back and turned to see Alya and Nino lying on their chairs laughing as well.

“That really was the best one, dude! Oh my god, I can’t even!”

“Dude, I have one for you as well.”, Adrien leaned down to his best friend and whispered something into his ear. Immediately, Nino bolted in his seat and looked at Alya who slowly recovered. The boy grinned widely and tried to look seductive which didn’t quite happen.

“Hey Alya! Are you the _dub to my step_? Because I _wub wub wub_ you.”

“Oh my god, Nino!! I’m lactose intolerant so you both keep your cheesy pick-up lines away from me!”, she laughed and punched his arm, brushing off the tears with her other hand.

“But girl, you can’t be lactose intolerant because if milk does a body good than _damn_ , how much must you have been drinking?”

“Well, at least my pick-up counters are not as moldy as yours are, then.”

“I wished you would’ve been drinking water instead, because then I could describe my feelings faster to you.”

“Why is that, Nino?”, Alya giggled.

“Because my feelings are harder to explain than the taste of water.”

She burst with laughter along with Nino who already held his stomach. Adrien had calmed down enough to turn and face Marinette again.

“Hey Marinette, I’d take you to your parent’s bakery but there’s nothing sweeter than you.”

“Okay, now that’s a fitting pick-up line.”, she giggled.

“Oh, I have one with Ladybug! Have you been eating Lucky Charms?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re looking miraculously delicious.”

That was it. They couldn’t go any farther, they both cracked up and laughed their heads off. Adrien wasn’t even sure if he would be able to make it through the rest of the day without constantly bursting out in laughter.

They only calmed slowly because periodically, one of them would always start laughing again and set the others off.

Finally, fifteen minutes before their afternoon lessons would start, they paid and left the café. Alya and Adrien walked in the back again while Nino and Marinette tried to continue their pick-up line war. Without Adrien it was a bit difficult but they made up enough cheesy things to say to keep themselves entertained. The blonde model shoved his hands into his pockets and tried to ignore their happy laughter. He wanted to laugh with them, wanted to laugh with Marinette because he was still feeling this wonderful happiness inside and because he still had a few pick-up lines for her.

This time, he didn’t want to be any farther away from her than three steps.

Alya nudged him and shot him a quick questioning look.

He sighed and nodded, then increased the distance between them again.

“Okay, so nightmares. What do you dream? Is it always the same?”

“Well, yeah… It’s-…”, _six steps_ , he thought, _seven. That’s enough._

“Take it slow, Adrien. It’s hard to talk about nightmares, I know. I have three younger sisters who I’m rocking to sleep several times a month when they’re having a bad dream. I know how it is.”

He nodded and took a deep breath.

“It’s always the same but with different people. I’m there but I can’t move, I can only talk. And then there’s-… There’s Marinette.”

Alya looked slightly surprised, placing a hand on his arm to assure him she was listening. He swallowed and continued with a shaky voice.

“Well, and she’s being held hostage by an Akuma. A random Akuma victim Ladybug and Chat Noir fought once. Y-Yesterday it had been the Mime. The night before it had been Reflecta.”

“And today-…?”

“The Bubbler. Nino.”

He looked over to the brunette and she bit her lip, encouraging him to continue with a nod.

“They’re all-… We’re in the same position everytime. The location isn’t important, one time it was the Eiffel tower, the next it was some random park or my own room. I’m always standing in front of them and the Akuma, they’re-… They’re holding a knife against her throat.”

He felt tears welling up in his eyes and Alya swallowed back her own.  
“Th-That must be horrible, Adrien…”

He breathed heavily but resisted the urge to cry.

“Yeah… I can’t reach Marinette and she’s yelling at me she doesn’t want to die. She’s-… She’s shouting she wants to live and I should rescue her, _help_ her. But I-… I can’t. The Akuma’s mocking me, I’m trying to reassure Marinette that everything’ll going to go fine if she’s stopping to struggle and with a quick-…”

His voice broke and Alya’s fingers dug into his sleeve.

“And then she’s c-… collapsing, right in front of me. Red blood everywhere and I can’t do a-anything to help her. Then, the dream ends and I wake up crying, unable to sleep for the rest of the n-night.”

_Ten steps._ Nino and Marinette were still joking, oblivious to the distance between their friends and them.

“I-… I’m sorry, Adrien…”

He chuckled without laughing, shaking his head and calming her with putting a hand over hers.

“It’s okay… It’s gonna be over soon.”

She sniffed and tried a smile.

“You know, if you’re not ready to tell Marinette yet, you can always call me at night. We can talk and I can try to calm you, sound good? Maybe I can search something up and tell you, about what’s the meaning of this. Because as I said before, your subconscious is trying to tell you something it noticed and it won’t stop until you either forget it or until there’s a solution.”

He grinned down at her and nodded happily, grateful for her offer.

“If that’s okay with you when I call you at night, I would love to. I already thought about calling Marinette but that’d just be creepy I figured.”

“A little bit.”, she smiled and readjusted the strap of her bag, “I’m setting my phone so that I can hear it, alright?”

They reached the school and Adrien hugged Alya, out of an impulse.

“Thank you.”, he whispered. She hugged back and nodded into his shoulder, “Oh, and by the way, I know that Marinette has a crush on me.”

Immediately, she pulled away, disbelief on her face.

“ _What?!_ ”, she whisper yelled to not startle their friends who had reached the steps of the school, still talking, “Did you find out or did Nino tell you?”

“Nino helped me finding out, he didn’t say it directly… Well, he pushed me to it and I got curious and it was just earlier in math and-…”

“I’m gonna kill this guy someday! I told him not to!”, slowly but surely she turned red and looked like she was ready to shoot her friend on the spot.

“No, no Alya!”, he grabbed her shoulders and grinned at her, calming her a bit, “This is great! I like Marinette too, she’s really cool! I just need to-… I need to sort a few things out, before I can care about that, okay?”

The image of Ladybug appeared before his eyes and he shook his head, trying to concentrate and not space out again.

“Like that with your dreams?”

“Yeah, sorta. My dreams… _Uh_ , could you just keep it down? I’m grateful Nino helped me find out, it’s not a big deal he told. Just let us take things slowly, okay…?”

She was calm again, quickly brushing his hands off her shoulders as she noticed that Nino and Marinette were watching them, a slightly hurt expression on her best friends face.

“Alright. Anyway, Loverboy, we’ve got class. You coming?”

He grinned at the nickname and nodded, following her to their friends.

 

In literature class, he wanted to explode. Too many thoughts wandered around in his mind and too many times, Nino had turned around in the midst of the lesson to tell Marinette another pick-up line he had made up instead of focusing on the lesson.

“Psst, Marinette!”, Adrien groaned on the inside, “You have something on your face. Oh wait, no, it’s just a smudge of cuteness.”

She giggled.

“Dork.”, she whispered back, “Concentrate already.”

“But something’s wrong with my eyes – I can’t take them off you.”

The blonde grabbed his best friend’s shoulder and pulled for him to face the front again.

“Your eyes are just fine, Nino, you should really try not to make Mme. Bustier even more mad than she already is. She called on you twice already, man.”

“You’re just jealous, bro.”

Adrien didn’t bother to answer that. Of course he was, despite of his crush on Ladybug, but he didn’t have to tell Nino.

“Whatever.”, he muttered to himself, too quiet for Nino to hear.

 

After school, Nino and Marinette still joked around.

“Hey, Nino, how was heaven when you left it?”

“Pretty good, I mean-… Hey wait! Okay okay…”, he chuckled, then looked deep into Marinette’s eyes.

“Honey, your eyes are as blue as the Atlantic Ocean and damn, I’m all lost at sea.”

“And I need a map, because I’m lost in yours.”

Alya held her stomach while laughing.

“Oh my god, guys! You’re so cheesy.”

“Well, Alya, if only gold was as bright as your eyes, because then I would dig for that and not for you.”

“Oh my god, that’s actually cute.”, she giggled as Nino pretended to kiss her hand. If he’d done that with Marinette, he would be screaming while trying to run away from his furious best friend by now.

“Hey, Marinette, I have another one with eyes!”, Nino let go of Alya’s hand and turned to his friend. Alya looked over at Adrien and wasn’t surprised to see him boiling on the inside.

“Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are clear like the ocean? Because I can see straight into your soul.”

She giggled and shook her head.

“Unbelievable, Nino, unbelievable.”

Just as she wanted to say something else, Adrien was next to her, grabbed her by the waist and swooped her off her feet to bend her down like a tango dancer.

_Forget Ladybug, Marinette is mine_ , he thought.

“Hey Mari, I wish I was one of your tears. Then I could be born in your eyes, run down your cheeks and die on your lips.”

The effect was immediate. She blushed harder than ever while staring up at him through big blue eyes, unsure of what to do next. Alya gasped and let out a tiny scream. Nino had frozen halfway in his bow he had hinted to and watched them with an expression of pride and indication that he had planned to send Adrien over the edge.

Her gaze flickered to his lips as did his to hers and he closed the distance between them. But suddenly, she began giggling nervously.

“Haha, gosh, g-good one, _uh_ so I n-need to go h-ho-home, _uhm_ could you p-please-…”, he lifted her up so she could stand on her own feet again, “Yeah, _uh_ , th-thank you, haha, bye!”

And with that, she ran off. Her face was beet red and she stumbled with every second step but soon, she vanished in the bakery across the street.

Alya slowly turned to face the blonde model, trembling either of anger or of being forced to keep her laughter in. She pointed to the bakery where her best friend just had vanished and her gaze dug into his eyes. It was really scary that Adrien still didn’t know whether she was mad at him or laughed on her inside.

“You said you know-… That she’s crushing-… And-… What did you-… How-… Where did that-…?!”

He shrugged and she looked at him in disbelief.

“Well, I’m off, my driver’s here to pick me up. Bye guys, see you tomorrow!”

He ran down the stairs and opened the door of the car that waited for him. Just when he was about to close it, he heard Alya’s scream.

“OH MY GOSH NINO, MY OTP IS HAP-…”, and the door shut close. Adrien grinned to himself when he saw that Alya tackled Nino into a hug.


	4. Evillustrator

_“Marinette, no, stop mov-…”_

_“I don’t wanna die, Chat! Help me, help me Adrien! Please Chat!”_

_Evillustrator chuckled evilly, pressing his knife to the girl’s throat._

_“You’re gonna die to hurt him, my love!”_

_“Chat!”_

_Adrien was helpless. He watched as Evillustrator took another step back, further out of his reach. Marinette fell back against her former classmate’s chest and sobbed, trying to escape the knife. She refused to stop fighting against his grip but was unable to escape._

_“Please, Marinette, remain calm, we’re gonna find a solution, we-…”_

_“No, Chat, I don’t want to die!! Please, help me, I wanna live! Chat,_ Adrien _, I can’t die yet!”_

_“You won’t, we can-…”_

_“Adrien!!”, tears streamed down both their cheeks and he wanted nothing more to get to her and help her. But before he was able to think about a way to rescue her, Evillustrator laughed and cut open her throat._

_With a cry, Marinette’s knees gave way and she fell to the concrete asphalt under the Eiffel tower. Adrien screamed and tried to move, tried anything to get to her. She choked on her own blood and soon, her body stopped moving._

_“NOO!! MARINETTE-…”_

 

“NO!”, he nearly jumped out of his bed.

With a quick grab, he had his phone in his hands, tears streaming down his face and sobs constantly escaping his throat.

“Kid?”

“G-Gon-… Call Alya-…”

Plagg nodded sadly and hugged Adrien’s cheek. Maybe it would be the best for his boy to talk to Marinette’s best friend right after a nightmare.

He was tempted to call Marinette but resisted and stuck to his plan with Alya. It dialed and after a few minutes, his friend answered, speaking up in a very sleepy voice.

_“Yeah?”_

“H-Hey A-Alya-…”, he pressed out, trying to suppress his sobs.

_“Oh my god, Adrien!”_ , suddenly she was awake and he could hear her shifting and probably sitting up, _“Are you okay? How bad was it this time?”_

“B-Bad, Alya-… I-… I c-could-n’t d-do a-a-anything, I-… I-I r-really t-t-tried b-but I c-c-c-…”, the sobs took over and he rested his forehead on his knees, crying violently.

_“Okay, Adrien, I know it’s really early and you’re probably as tired as I am but I need to know who it was this time.”_

He whimpered when he recalled the dream, shaking his head frantically.

_“Adrien? Who was it? C’mon, deep breaths.”_

She breathed in and out with him and asked the same question again until he could answer it.

“I-It w-was E-E-Evillst-trator-… N-Nathaniel…”

_“Alright Adrien, you did well! You’re still doing well. I am so proud of you. Now, breathe with me again, in and out so you’ll calm down.”_

They breathed together for about half an hour and with great encouragement from Alya, Adrien laid down again.

_"See? It wasn’t that hard. Are you laying?”_

He nodded and then it occurred to him that she couldn’t see him.

“Y-Yeah…”, he mumbled into the phone, already feeling sleepy again.

He heard her sighing, relieved.

_“Now, you close your eyes and just concentrate on my voice. Can you do that?”_

“Mmhm.”, he hummed approvingly.

_“So then. I’m gonna talk until you’re sleeping. And when I’m sure you’re asleep again, I’m gonna hang up.”_

He hummed again and she quietly chuckled.

_“Remember what we did yesterday? We had a pick-up lines war and I think, you won. You brought the best pick-up line I would’ve ever imagined. And Mari was so flustered! She called me afterwards, her voice trembling. You know, she’s been in love with you since she first got to know you. She knows exactly when she fell for you, she’s calling it the umbrella scene since then. She still has your umbrella by the way, but she’s never using it, out of fear to break it. But she told me you still have her Lucky Charm, so I think you’re even.”_

He smiled. Listening to Alya was very relaxing. He wanted her to never stop talking about Marinette so he chuckled to show her he was still awake.

_“And man I could’ve killed Nino today! That boy is more oblivious than you sometimes… You should’ve found out by yourself that Marinette is crushing on you, or she should’ve told you herself. I feel like that’s something the two of you should’ve sorted out by yourselves. And now you know because we, Nino and I both, pushed you to know… But to be honest, it would’ve taken a while until you would’ve seen, or until she would’ve had the courage to tell you. And I think, it would’ve broken her heart. It’s been long enough already…”_

“It has.”, he muttered and she shushed him giggling.

_“No talkie talkie for you, boy. You’re supposed to be sleeping by now.”_

He chuckled but his eyes remained shut.

“Can you-… Alya, can you sing for me? My mum always did when I was upset after a nightmare and it calmed me…”

_“You sure? I’m not the best singer, Mari’s way better than me…”_

“But I’m not talking to Marinette right now.”

_“And my voice is rough. Morning voice, you know. So everything’s deeper.”_

“I don’t care. Please, Alya? I won’t judge. I just-… Well, no, it’s okay, you don’t have to of course.”

She sighed and he could almost hear her smile.

_“Well then, I’ll sing for you. What do you want me to sing for you?”_

“Whatever you want to sing is alright.”

_“Do you know ‘Read all about it’ by Emeli Sandé? It’s a very slow and beautiful song.”_

“Alright, I would love to although I don’t know the song.”

He heard her breathing and probably searching the lyrics on her phone while holding the call.

_“Okay, got it. Here it goes…”_ , she breathed again, probably listening to it to find the right note to begin with the song.

_“You've got the words to change a nation_  
_But you're biting your tongue_  
 _You've spent a life time stuck in silence_  
 _Afraid you'll say something wrong_  
 _If no one ever hears it how we gonna learn your song?_  
 _So come on, come on_  
 _Come on, come on…”_

He sighed. She sang beautifully. And if Marinette was way better, then how would she sound?

Alya’s voice made its way to his thoughts and memories and suddenly he remembered his mother singing to him. It immediately soothed him and he applauded Alya for being so brave to start singing without instrumental background and her just-out-of-bed voice. It sounded amazing.

_“You've got a heart as loud as lions_  
_So why let your voice be tamed?_  
_Maybe we're a little different_  
_There's no need to be ashamed_  
_You've got the light to fight the shadows_  
_So stop hiding it away_  
_Come on, come on…_ _”_

He held his breath as he became more and more tired. He heard the smile in her voice as she continued to sing, finally getting him to sleep. Plagg next to him on the pillow already quietly snored, luckily not loud enough for Alya to hear.

_“_ _I wanna sing, I wanna shout_  
_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out_  
_So put it in all of the papers,_  
_I'm not afraid_  
_They can read all about it_  
_Read all about it, oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh… ”_

He sighed, losing himself in her voice. Singing always calmed him and especially after this night, he smiled to himself because he already felt how the sleep pulled on his consciousness.

_“_ _At night we're waking up the neighbors_  
_While we sing away the blues_  
_Making sure that we're remembered, yeah_  
_'Cause we all matter too_  
_If the truth has been forbidden_  
_Then we're breaking all the rules_  
_So come on, come on_  
_Come on, come on,_  
_Let's get the TV and the radio_  
_To play our tune again_  
_It's 'bout time we got some airplay of our version of events_  
_There's no need to be afraid_  
_I will sing with you my friend_  
_Come on, come on… ”_

His mind became slow and he felt like he would never be able to open his eyelids again. His limbs began weighing him down to his mattress and all he felt was relaxing darkness around him, warmth that protected him and Alya’s voice that slowly lost its roughness from sleeping before, becoming even more beautiful.

_“_ _I wanna sing, I wanna shout  
I wanna scream 'til the words dry out_  
_So put it in all of the papers,_  
_I'm not afraid_  
_They can read all about it_  
_Read all about it, oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh…”_

Plagg shifted and snuggled himself against Adrien’s other cheek while Alya continued singing. Sleep filled and coated him, completely taking over his senses. All he could do was to listen to his friend’s voice. She became more confident with every word she sang but didn’t go overboard. Her voice was powerful and Adrien knew, she wasn’t giving it all she got, partly to stay quiet because of him and because of her family.

_“_ Y _eah, we're all wonderful, wonderful people_  
_So when did we all get so fearful?_  
_Now we're finally finding our voices_  
_So take a chance, come help me sing this_  
_Yeah, we're all wonderful, wonderful people_  
_So when did we all get so fearful?_  
_And now we're finally finding our voices_  
_Just take a chance, come help me sing this. ”_

He felt his conscious dripping away from him, sleep taking over his exhausted and scared mind. He knew, he wouldn’t have to worry about nightmares for the rest of the night because Alya held them away with her singing. He knew he was safe. And he knew Marinette was too.

_“_ _I wanna sing, I wanna shout_  
_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out_  
_So put it in all of the papers,_  
_I'm not afraid_  
_They can read all about it_  
_Read all about it, oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_Oh oh oh_  
_I wanna sing, I wanna shout_  
_I wanna scream 'til the words dry out_  
_So put it in all of the papers,_  
_I'm not afraid_  
_They can read all about it. ”_

Within the last refrain he was asleep. His phone had slid from his ear to the pillow and then down on the mattress, his hand having no strength of holding it up anymore.

Somewhere else in Paris, a girl put her phone to her ear and after a few seconds of listening, she nodded and smiled, hanging up the call.

_“Sleep well, Adrien.”_ , echoed through a room way too big for the boy laying in his bed, finally sleeping peacefully.

 

On the next day in school, the first thing Adrien did was to hug Alya. She smiled and felt him burying his face in her shoulder and slightly trembling, eager to hold back his tears.

“It’s alright. I’m glad I was able to help.”

He held her tighter, smiling as well.

“You didn’t just help. You made me sleep well, the first time in a week. You don’t know how grateful I am.”

She pulled away when she heard Marinette’s voice nearing and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“I am very proud of you for working with me this morning, Adrien.”

He nodded and beamed, then let her go entirely so Marinette wouldn’t interpret something neither of them wanted to falsely hint to. However, when he sat down he was confronted with a very mad Nino.

“What was _that_ all about, dude?!”, he hissed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“What? She helped me with something and I thanked her.”

“Yeah alright, and that was the long hug right there _, right in front of my face_?! What’s _wrong_ with you, man?!”

“Bro-…”

“You are _not_ my bro.”

“… Are you jealous?”

“ _Whatever_ , man!”

Adrien’s eyes widened and he gasped.

“Nino, you are! But that’s not a bad thing because I don’t have any interest in her. I-…”

“C’mon, yesterday with Marinette, today with Alya, I’m not stupid, man! I saw-…”

Adrien held his hands up and interrupted Nino before it could be too late.

“Nino, I consider Alya as one of my best friend’s, almost like sister.”

His best friend looked at him for a few seconds, then his shoulders slumped and he nodded, relieved.

“Thanks man. I just-… I don’t know what even came over me. Sorry?”

“Everything alright man. By the way, now it’s confirmed you have a crush on Alya.”, he whispered, wiggling his eyebrows.

Adrien snickered as he received a punch against his shoulder.

 

School went by normally. Nathaniel didn’t come near Marinette – also partly because Alya always kept her away from him.

Thankfully, the bluenette was relaxing around Adrien again. After the pick-up line he had said yesterday, Adrien thought he had scared her away but it seemed she really was willing to give it a shot. Ladybug had almost left his thoughts for the day and when he was with Marinette, Ladybug seemed to be no person for him anymore. Just an idea, a mask.

Just as Adrien had been for him. He had always been more Chat Noir than Adrien Agreste. But with Marinette he, too, seemed to be a person again, not an idea anymore. Not a mask anymore.

After school they stood on the steps and waited for Adrien’s driver to come by and get him to a photoshoot. As they talked about their lunch break, Nathaniel went by. He waved to Marinette.

He had waved to Marinette!

Adrien moved in front of her to inconspicuously shield her view on Nathaniel. He knew the redhead still had a major crush on the girl and somehow it made the blonde’s blood boil. The boy shrugged and continued to go down the stairs.

“Oh, Nathaniel, wait!”, Marinette bolted and got a paper out of her bag while running to catch up with him. Adrien didn’t hear what they were speaking about over the rushing blood in his ears, but it had to be the paper Mme. Mendeleiev had given to Marinette while Nathaniel had had PE.

The blonde clenched his fists but soon felt a hand wriggling between his fingers. Alya stood next to him and had seen where his gaze was fixed on.

He relaxed his hands and let Alya take one of it, trying to distract him.  
“Calm down, tiger. She’s just speaking to him. Everything’s alright, promise.”

He saw Nathaniel placing a hand on her shoulder, obviously thanking her, but Adrien trembled.

His hand was so close to her neck. _Too close._

He had been that close when he had killed Marinette, when he had been Evillustrator and had killed her.

_No_ , Adrien scolded himself, shaking his head, _Marinette is alive and standing right there and talking to Nathaniel and when he had been akumatized for real, he had not tried to kill her either._

Alya held his hand tighter and looked up to him, biting on her lip.

Finally, Marinette turned around and Alya let go of his hand too late, she had seen it. Her bluebell eyes widened and she looked at her best friend in disbelief. Then, she shook her head and stumbled backwards, turning around before she could fall and ran home as fast as she could.

Slowly, the brunette turned to him as they heard the door of the bakery close with a loud slam. Her golden eyes met his green orbs and he swallowed.

“We-… We messed up, didn’t we?”

She took a sharp breath and nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Entirely and massively.”

“Oh shit…”

Adrien swore to himself that he would pay Marinette a visit as Chat Noir. Maybe he could still save something?

“What’s going on guys?”, Nino finally spoke up.

They both turned to him, completely forgotten that he had been standing there. Adrien was so down he knew he didn’t have the strength to tell him what had happened, especially with knowing Nino had a crush on Alya.

“Uh, sorry Nino, gotta go. We’ll explain tomorrow. Bye!”, she ran down the stairs and brushed over her eyes. She apparently had to collect her thoughts, too. The blonde nodded and gave his best friend a fist bump.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

He left Nino completely confused, still holding up his fist as Adrien entered the car. He had to get to Marinette as Chat, right after his Chinese lessons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit goes to Emeli Sandé for "Read All About It, Pt. III", performed by Alya


	5. Evillustrator (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of the real Chat Noir, maybe?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was too impatient to wait :D

Turned out he had to wait until around eight in the evening to be in his room and sure, nobody would check on him again. His phone had been buzzing with messages from a very panicking Alya, telling him she couldn’t call Marinette because she always hung up. He sighed and Plagg flew out of his jacket.

“Eat up, Plagg. We need to meet a princess.”

He tossed a wedge of cheese to his Kwami and watched him take a big bite. Adrien all the while paced around, trying to get himself together.

“Ready?”, he asked his friend and he swallowed.

“Almost.”, the tiny god of destruction said, taking another bite, “One does not simply rush cheese.”

“Ugh, since when do you know memes, dude? Anyway, _Plagg, Claws out!_ ”

Seconds later, a black cat themed superhero leapt over the rooftops through a light rain and landed on a very familiar balcony above the room of a girl. He hesitated. Maybe she didn’t want to see him? See _him_ especially?

He swallowed and shied away from the hatch only to shake his head. She liked Chat Noir, didn’t she? Maybe she trusted him enough to open up and maybe she needed someone to speak to.

Chat slowly crouched down and knocked on the glass of Marinette’s hatch. A minute and a startled gasp later, her face appeared underneath him and with a big grin he waved. She opened and he immediately noticed her red eyes.

“Hey princess! Thought I would _drop by_. Y’know, because of the rain?”

She began to smile but he bet it wasn’t a real one. It hurt his heart to see her this sad and to know that it had been him who had been the cause of this.

Without any further thought she opened the hatch for him and let him in, giving him a towel she surprisingly kept by her bed. Did she regularly go out on her balcony into the rain of fall? They climbed down the small ladder that lead down to her room and when she gestured to the chaise, he sat down, watching her get comfortable in her desk chair.

“What are you doing here, Chat?”

“I already told you, just thought I’d pay my princess a visit because I’m a little bored. How about company?”

Her eyes widened even though she tried to suppress it and turned away.

“Thanks, Chat.”

He got up and decided to play the innocent superhero.

“Have you been crying? Your eyes are all red and puffy.”

“N-no, I’m-… I’m alright… Today hadn’t really been my day.”

He kneeled down next to her, placing his head on her leg and looking up at her with big kitty eyes. She bit back her tears and kept her smile as she began scratching behind his fake ears. He began to purr slightly.

“I don’t want my princess to be sad. You can tell me, y’know?”

She nodded, waiting for a minute or two before finally speaking up again.

“Today, my best friend bonded with my crush. But not on a platonic way, not like having fun together and be friends. They-… They held hands, Chat-…”, she silently sobbed and brought her other hand that wasn’t patting him to her mouth, “She knows about me crushing on him, Chat, but she held hands with him regardless. She’s-… She’s ignored my feelings and just-… I don’t know what to think anymore.”

He stood up and pulled her to her feet with him. Before she could respond, he hugged her tightly and fought back his own tears.

“I am so sorry to hear that, princess.”, she relaxed and buried her face into his chest, “But do you really know she tried something on your crush? Do you really believe that was a non-platonic way? That they were actually-… Getting close?”

Marinette shook her head against him and sniffed as she hugged him back.

“I don’t know but what else would it be? He hugged her yesterday, really long, and today they held hands. They’re good friends and what am I against her. Alya’s way prettier than me, she’s taller and more feminine and she’s better grades than me and-…”

“Shh, Marinette. Don’t compare, that only makes sad. For me, you’re the most beautiful princess in the world.”

“I thought you were only saying that to Ladybug?”, she laughed even though she sniffled.

“Well, yeah… But she’s the most beautiful lady.”

That sent her off giggling which was interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

“Don’t you want to answer that? It may be important.”

“No…”, she mumbled after she had peeked to check who was calling, “It’s Alya. I don’t wanna talk to her.”

“It would be worth giving Alya a shot to explain, y’know? Maybe she’s trying to explain she isn’t intending to get on a romantic level with him. She’s your best friend after all, I don’t think she would just ignore your feelings this way.”

Marinette loosened her grip around him and looked up to meet his gaze. Ladybug was long erased from his thoughts when he looked into her bluebell eyes.

“You really think?”  
“Well, I haven’t been there and I haven’t seen what you’ve seen but I’m sure Alya wants to explain something to you.”, _lies, straight lies. Good one, Agreste._

“H-How do you know that Alya is trying to tell me this?”

He grinned and gestured to her phone that laid on her desk.

“Your phone’s going off _again_ and everytime the face of this certain young reporter is shown. I know her, she’s the creator of the Ladyblog and perhaps she’s the same Alya you’re talking about?”

“Should I-… Should I answer the call?”

“Definitely. Should I leave?”

She shook her head.

“Just make sure you’re staying in front of me so I can use face cam. She’ll get suspicious if I’m not using face cam.”

He nodded and watched as Marinette’s trembling fingers pressed answer on her phone and then holding it out in front of her.

_“Oh my god, Marinette?! I’m so glad you’re finally willing to listen… Okay, so-…”_

“Alya?”

_“Yeah?”_

“Please tell it wasn’t what I thought it was with Adrien today?”

He heard Alya’s sigh and tensed. Did she feel different about him? He was a model, after all…

_“I swear to god and all holy things I can think of right now that I do not feel anything more than friendship or sibling love towards Adrien Agreste.”_

Marinette quickly smiled, a small one but finally it was true.

“Okay… I’m glad… But what was that all about with holding hands?”

He heard her sigh again and Marinette shot a fearful glance up to him then back to her phone.

_“I-… I don’t think I can tell you without consulting him first but let’s just say, Adrien had a problem with letting certain persons near you and I had to make sure he doesn’t do something he would regret later. I took his hand, Mari, don’t blame him…”_

Chat was relieved she had found such a vague explanation. She didn’t tell her about his nightmares. She still let him do it.

“What do you mean? I-I don’t understand, Alya… Was it because of Nathaniel today? And has that to do with him not getting enough sleep anymore?”

Apparently, Alya nodded because Marinette relaxed.

“Okay, so it was just-… Just platonic? I actually thought you forgot my crush on him”, she laughed nervously and he held his thumbs up to signalize her she was doing good.

_“Promise, yeah. I’m currently helping him figure this out. He’ll tell you for sure someday but I don’t think he’s ready yet. So relax and have patience because I think he likes you back~”_ , she finished in a sing-sang voice and Marinette’s eyes widened. Chat chuckled silently.

“What?! Alya, wh-… What?!”

_“Anyway girl, that’s another story. So, I’m pretty tired… You okay?”_

“Yeah, now I am. But, _uh_ , what was that with Adrien liking me back?”

_“I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay? So patience, young one.”_

“Hey, just because you’re three months older than me doesn’t mean you can-…”

Alya laughed and waved. Marinette smiled and waved back.

_“Goodnight girl, sleep well.”_

“Alright, You too. And Alya? Love ya.”

_“I’m glad. Love ya too, Mari.”_

They hung up and Marinette brightly beamed at Chat. Without a warning, she hugged him energetically and pressed her face to his chest.

“Thanks, Chat. I owe you.”

He grinned and buried his nose in her hair, enjoying her sweet scent.

“You owe me nothing but to look out for this stupid boy who almost broke your heart. He might do more stupid things.”

She laughed and he was relieved to get her laughing again.  
“Don’t worry. I won’t ever stop caring for Adrien.”

He nodded and headed for the hatch after slowly parting away from Marinette.

“Good. Then, your prince won’t be able to resist your beauty anymore.”

She climbed onto her bed with him and he made sure to not make her sheets dirty with his boots. The bluenette opened the hatch and waved him as he stepped out into the light drizzle.

“Don’t slip.”

“Would never. Hey, maybe I’ll meet my lady?”

“Unlikely. I don’t think she likes the rain.”

“Oh, she likes rain. It makes things grow. But she doesn’t like the cold, being the ladybug she is.”

Marinette giggled and closed the hatch. He waved one last time and jumped off her balcony, heading home. He was as happy as he had been when he made her blush the day before, as Adrien.

The blonde was pretty sure he had fallen for her.

It was confusing being in love with two girls at the same time, but he knew now with who he wanted to be and who would remain in his heart forever.


	6. Darkblade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette can get really, really angry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone wondered, there are not all 25 Akumas from the series because I wanted to keep the story short, so it's not all of them :)

_“No, no! Marinette, please, don’t move!”_

_Darkblade laughed at him and pressed the knife closer to her throat._

_“Chat!_ Chat _! Save me!”_

_He clenched his teeth and reached out for her._

_“Just a bit, Marinette! Just a little bit more!”_

_Tears streamed down her face and she held out her hand as well. Darkblade tried pulling her away from him but this time, their fingertips touched. Adrien’s eyes widened and saw hers widely opened, too. They both tried a second time but now, they were too far apart._

_His gaze wandered down to his hand and he couldn’t believe he had been able to actually brush her fingertips._

_“Marinette-…”, he looked up again as she did._

_“Adrien-…”_

_Darkblade huffed and pressed her closer to his armor._

_“Thou art pathetic! The young maiden wilt leaveth this world and thou wilt not be in the position to rescue her from a certain death of hers.”_

_Her eyes became fearful again and Darkblade lunged out to bury the knife in her throat._

_“Adrien, I don’t want to die! Please, Chat, Adrien,_ save me _! Save me!”_

_“I-I-…”, he tried to reach her again but failed._

_“Art thou out of words to calmeth her?”, Darkblade cackled, then his arm snapped down._

_Adrien knew too well what was going to happen but before the sharp blade touched her throat, everything vanished._

 

For the first time in a whole week, Adrien awoke silently. He opened his eyes and still found himself crying but this time, it was different.

The tears streamed down his cheeks silently and he sniffed.

He didn’t scream, he didn’t yelp, he just laid there and knew he had been too weak again but this time, somehow his nightmare had ended before she had died.

With shaking fingers, he dialed Alya’s number and heard her sleepy voice through the speakers.

_“Hey-… Adrien? How are you?”_

“S-Surprisingly f-fine…”, he got out, calmer than he had thought.

He heard her bed sheets shuffle and her voice was a lot more awake now.

_“Really? What happened?”_ , she asked curiously.

He shrugged and then remembered she couldn’t see him.

“S-Same story as before, just-… Something w-was off.”

_“What was off?”_

He swallowed.

“I told you b-before that I can’t seem to r-reach her. Everytime I t-try I can’t touch her. This time i-it had been D-Darkblade… He held her h-hostage as before and I was u-useless, as before. But this time, I c-could actually-… Our fingertips brushed, Alya.”

She was silent for a few seconds and he already worried she had fallen asleep.

“Alya?”

_“Yeah yeah, shush, I’m looking it up.”_

“Th-Thanks-…”, he mumbled and then waited. It took her about ten minutes to speak up again.

_“Okay, it says here-… That a life changing transformation can be ahead of you and you’re dreaming of the rapid change as death. It also says that it doesn’t matter whether it’s your or someone else’s death.”_

“Do you think this rapid _uh_ change in my life has something to do with Marinette? It’s always her…”, he was slightly concerned Alya had chosen transformation as a description of what his dreams meant. After all she didn’t know he was Chat Noir and it would be safer if she didn’t.

_“Hm, I dunno. This site here explains that the change is more of an end, for example of a relationship or the job.”_

“You’re saying I’m gonna lose Marinette and our friendship as it is right now?”, he panicked. He didn’t want to give up their friendship!

_“I don’t think-… Okay, now it’s saying this person you’re dreaming of won’t be longer in your life.”_

“Wh-What?! I don’t wanna-…”

_“Adrien, calm down, it could be meant the, well, ‘death’ of the person you know at the moment and you’re feeling it coming because you already kinda knew it. So it can be that you’ll be seeing Marinette in a different light. Maybe you’ll be in love?”_

His heart leaped up into his throat and he tried to swallow but couldn’t because of excitement.

“S-So-… The akuma mean nothing but just common danger and that I’ll see Marinette in a different light while she’s in danger?”, he tried to distract her from the fact that he could actually be in love with his cute classmate.

Alya paused, then he heard her hair brushing the phone.

_“No, I don’t think that Marinette has to be in danger for you to look at her differently. It’s about the death of this person, not about the danger she’s in. The akuma are just an excuse by your subconscious to at least have a logical reason of her death. Or maybe you’re a bit traumatized by the akuma attacks?”_

_I had to face them all, so that could actually be_ , he thought.

“Yeah, you’re right. So the Marinette I know right now will leave my life?”  
_“I-… I think so. But aside from her acting a little-… clumsier around you she’s the same to me? Maybe you’ll be discovering a dark secret of hers?”_

He gulped and then laughed nervously.  
“Maybe it’s a good secret? As in bright and not dark?”

Alya laughed and he chuckled along.

_“I hope so. But I suggest you’ll tell me about her secret, I’m curious now.”_

“Let’s see, that depends. Anyway, thanks for talking with me, Alya.”

He felt her smile and couldn’t suppress his own.

_“Adrien, I just have one thing left to say.”_

He turned and lightly patted his little sleeping Kwami on the pillow. He was glad Plagg could get at least a whole night’s sleep. He had been awake with him everytime the past week when Adrien had awoken with a cry, the poor guy.

“Huh?”, he asked absently.

_“I sorted this out with Mari, y’know, what happened yesterday.”_

He nodded. He had been there and had been the one to get Marinette to listen to Alya’s apology.

“Really? I’m glad. Was she okay?”

The girl breathed in deeply and then spoke again.

_“Sh-She’s been crying, Adrien. Y’know, I know you need physical contact sometimes but maybe I’m not the best choice for that… I’m glad you opened up to me and I don’t mind helping you sleep again but have you thought about maybe telling Nino? He’ll understand – maybe – and Marinette won’t assume things…”_

He sighed and then shook his head.

“Well, I’m sure Nino would understand but I don’t really wanna tell him. He’ll understand, yeah, but how will he deal with it? Slap my shoulder and tell me to ‘be a strong dude’? Or maybe help me protect Marinette of the akumatized in my dreams, something even I shouldn’t do to not creep everyone? I-… I dunno Alya, I think you’re the best choice. I don’t have anyone but Nino, Marinette and you.”, _well and Ladybug, but you don’t need to know that._

_“Yeah, you’re right, can’t trust Chloé on that one.”_

“Can’t trust Chloé at all…”, he mumbled.

_“Wow, Agreste! What’s with your kindness all of a sudden?”_ , she laughed.

“I just-… I learned from you guys what real friendship feels like and now I got the feeling that Chloé’s took advantage of my fame and, well-… I’m a model, I look kinda good.”

She snorted and he rolled his eyes.

_“Kiddo, don’t take it personally, but you look like a cinnamon roll with whipped cream and a cherry on top. I can understand why Marinette fell for you the day she met you.”_

“W-What, I-I look like food?”, he asked confused.

_“What I mean to say in girl speech, little boy, is that you look_ delicious _.”_

He felt himself blush at the thought if Marinette was thinking the same about him.

“W-Wow-… But I have a question for you as well.”

_“Huh, what?”_

“You like Nino, right?”, he grinned when he heard her giggling, then yawning.

_“I’m sorry pretty boy, but would you look at the time! I’m tired, night, bye!”_

He laughed when she hung up and laid back into his sheets.

 

The next day in school Marinette beamed at him. Obviously, she had taken Chat’s advice seriously and maybe had gotten a bit confidence out of it. She also flung her arms around Alya’s neck as if there was no tomorrow for them.

He smiled at the sight and observed them whispering into each other’s ears and shooting hidden glances at the blonde. He chuckled and turned to Nino to give the girls some privacy.

“So, Dude, what was up yesterday anyway?”

Adrien groaned and smiled, punching Nino’s arm playfully.

“Big misunderstanding, girls were fighting, kinda blew up in our faces. But as you see, everything’s good with us again. The girls are crying of happiness and you’re in love, I’m in love, Mari’s in love and I dunno, maybe Alya’s too?”, he laughed and spun in a circle, leaving his best friend dumbstruck, “Love is in the air! Daa daa da daa daa da, love is in the air~”

Nino started laughing too, out of disbelief, but soon stopped Adrien’s dancing and singing.

“Wait-wait, we know Marinette’s in love. And we know I’m in love, well, you wish you knew, no wait-… _Anyway_! And why am I in love? Ah _no_ , are you in love? I mean, you _are_ in love? In love with whom?”

Adrien chuckled and silenced him.

“Shush, Nino. Mine yet but so delicate love is not meant for thine ears just now, dear friend.”

“DaFuq, dude?”

The blonde model went inside the classroom first with the girls following them. He pinched his best friend’s cheek and beamed at him happily.

“Man, it’s like your tiredness is blown away. Are you fine again?”

“Nope, the cause of my tiredness and my tiredness itself are still there, I’m just so excited I don’t feel it.”, he looked over to Marinette who was taking her seat and smiled adorably, “I don’t feel a thing.”

“… But bliss.”

“Exactly, young one.”

Nino chuckled, too.

“That’s great, man. But still, with whom are you in love?”

“As I said Nino, that’s still a secret.”

His best friend rolled his eyes and faced the front to pay attention to what Mme. Bustier was saying. He smiled to himself, quietly making a note in his mind to consult Alya later on her feelings to Nino. Adrien felt this was going to be great.

 

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the chance to talk to Alya about Nino. And it was even more unfortunate that Chloé decided to take revenge on Marinette for hanging out with him. She had waited for the girl by the classroom after their lunchbreak and already grinned, obviously thinking about the things she was about to say to the bluenette, her victim number one.

Adrien protectively walked in front of Marinette, already feeling Alya’s hand brush against his.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Agreste. Chloé only wants to annoy, you know her.”, he heard her whispering. He nodded but didn’t do anything to calm himself. He knew Chloé was about to get nasty and he didn’t want Marinette to get hurt. Because this time, it was different. He had fallen for her, he needed to protect her.

“What do you want, Chloé?”, he asked her as they arrived. She grinned at him sweetly, attempting to press a kiss to his lips but he was able to brush her off. She scoffed but turned to the girl behind him which was ready to hide behind Alya.

“I just wanted to talk to my friend Marinette here!”

“We’re not friends, Chloé-…”, she tried but was cut off by the blonde girl.

“Aw, don’t be so mean. C’mon, walk with me.”

She took her hand and forced it onto her arm, pulling her along with her. They went a bit and Chloé seemed to talk happily. Contrary, Marinette’s shoulders slumped more and more and Adrien wanted nothing more than to save her from the major’s daughter.

“Keep calm.”, Alya hissed, tightening her grip on his hand. He hadn’t realized she had taken it again. His muscles tensed, as did hers, and he noticed she was way stronger than he had thought.

Chloé began to speak quieter and now, she almost looked like she was about to pull Marinette into some empty classroom and murder her right on the spot.

After what seemed like an eternity to the boy but really must’ve been around two minutes, Chloé smiled sweetly with a hint of sarcasm and put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. The bluenette had her eyes wide open but her shoulders were drawn back and she was standing straight even though she was smaller than most of the students in their class.

She shook her head and Chloé snapped something at her. This time, Marinette kept her lips shut but was obviously upset about their conversation. They returned and while Chloé looked like she had just gained a new friend, the girl next to her held her chin high and looked like she was about to explode on the inside. Alya had already let go of his hand and he sighed relieved he didn’t have to explain to Chloé why the brunette girl was allowed to hold his hand.

The blonde got back to Sabrina triumphantly and Marinette returned to them, never meeting Adrien’s gaze but he could almost see the smoke rising from her hair.

“What did she say?”, Alya growled, looking at the spoilt brat disapprovingly.

“Nothing anyone has to be concerned with. Chloé’s just being-… Ugh!”

“Chloé?”, Nino suggested.

“No, the biggest bitch this damn world has ever seen, holy frikkin’ shit, she’s pissing me off like hell. Fucking bullshit, only senseless, fucking bullshit leaving her mouth, fucking daddy’s girl.”, Marinette finally snapped.

They all stepped back and looked at their smallest friend with big eyes. A proud, almost not visible grin played around Alya’s lips and she slowly wrapped her arms around her best friend.

“Girl?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you. You never fail to surprise me.”

They all began laughing while Marinette managed a small smile, still upset with Chloé.


	7. Antibug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more Ladynoir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is gonna be the worst ;)

_She held her tightly and left no chance to break free from her grip. Her blonde hair glimmered with light raindrops as did the dark blue hair of the girl in front of her._

_“Let her go!”, Adrien tried to let his voice sound steady but failed._

_“As if, little boy! You’ll see her die right in front of your eyes!”_

_“Please, please save me Chat!_ Adrien _, I don’t wanna die, please!”, Marinette cried, her cheeks glistening wet from either her tears or the drizzle they were standing in._

_“Marinette, calm down, you’re not gonna-…”_

_“Why are you lying to me?!”_

_Antibug grinned and held her knife closer to the bluenette’s throat._

_“Yeah, why are you lying? She’s gonna die and there’s nothing you can do!”_

_Adrien felt tears welling up in his eyes as Marinette yelled his name out of panic all over again and again, both his names. He swallowed and gritted his teeth, only barely holding back his anger towards the akumatized victim and fear for his friend’s life._

_“Antibug, I’ll give you everything,_ everything _to release her!”_

_He gasped when Marinette was closer to escaping than ever before but the black and red spotted villain grinned evilly and let her knife cut clean through Marinette’s throat. She fell, students screaming horrified as she hit the schoolyard’s ground._

_A blood red puddle grew beneath her and Adrien yelled her name, hopelessly. She didn’t hear him anymore._

 

Covered in sweat, Adrien awoke. He panted but hadn’t screamed. Plagg was awake and caressed his chosen’s cheek, mumbling soothing things to calm him down. Sobbing violently, he sat up and cupped his hands around Plagg’s tiny body, holding him closer.

With a trembling hand, he then grabbed his phone and once again called Alya.

 

When he stepped into the classroom the next morning, nobody but a certain young reporter could explain the poisonous glare he gave Chloé.

Quickly, Alya was down the stairs and distracted him with a video she had shot the day before, when she had been goofing around with her younger sisters. Of course, they received confused glances from both their best friends but Alya didn’t mind. She had to make sure Adrien didn’t do something stupid and she had decided to not fail at this job. He sat down when the video was finished and smiled at his friend, silently thanking her for holding him back, especially because Chloé had gotten up to annoy him once more and Alya had calmed him.

“Adrikins? What are you doing in the lunchbreak?”, she leaned on his desk and he resisted the urge to grimace.

“I’m hanging out with my friends, Chloé.”, he said, not meeting her eyes. She laughed and he clenched his teeth.

“Oh, just perfect, I would love to spend the break with you, Adrikins!”

He finally looked up but kept his cold business face he always wore while speaking to his father or his colleagues.

“I said, I’m gonna spend it with my friends. Nino, Alya and Marinette. But thank you for offering.”

She gasped dramatically, lightly covering her mouth with her petite hand.

“But Adrikins-…”

“Class is about to start, Chloé. I strongly advise you to sit down and pay attention. You don’t want your father to spend even more money on trying to get you better grades, do you?”

She gasped again and theatrically held back her fake tears.

“How could you?!”, she then turned and sat down on her seat, only to immediately be fussed over by Sabrina.

Nino lightly slapped his shoulder, grinning like crazy.

“I’m proud of you, man.”, he laughed as Mme. Bustier stepped into the classroom, ready to start the lesson.

“Thanks. Chloé really needed to be put in place today.”, Adrien responded which resulted in a fit of laughter next to him.

“Damn right, my friend.”

They fist bumped as the teacher in front asked the class to settle down for the lesson to start.

 

“No way, no way!”, they all screeched as Nino managed to push two entire pizza slices into his mouth.

Marinette laughed so hard she almost choked on her water and Alya fell from the bench backwards because she could no longer pay attention to her balance. Adrien punched his best friend in the shoulder and Nino almost spit out the whole content of his mouth, resulting in a scared and disgusted, but also amused yelp from the girls.

They all laughed until the brunette boy had chewed down everything and looked rather green.

“Guys, I’m never gonna do that again, ugh…”, he groaned.

“Bet you can’t fit three slices into your mouth.”, Adrien grinned.

“It’s on, man!”, Nino already reached for the remaining three slices of his pizza as Alya and Marinette turned away with a big moan.

“Dude, don’t do it! I can’t stand watching you eat like a pig anymore!”

Marinette only giggled when Nino shrugged and took one slice instead, flashing a smile at her best friend. Adrien sighed and resisted the urge to stare. She had heard it and looked at him questioningly but he grinned and she concentrated on Nino again who told a story about one of his many cousins, eating an entire pizza in less than two minutes.

He laughed along with the others but his thoughts were wandering.

He hadn’t seen Ladybug in over a week now. He knew that was normal, after all Hawkmoth didn’t send out Akumas every day. Additionally, it was Ladybug’s turn to patrol this week, so he didn’t get to meet her until the next attack.

Or he could sneak out and surprise her during her next patrol.

Adrien grinned, deciding he would see his lady this evening again. It would only do him good he guessed, and he already missed being Chat Noir. He had always been for doing their night patrols together but she didn’t want to, out of fear it would be too tempting for them to reveal and that they would grow too close. She always wanted their relationship to only be professional.

So, no nightly dates for him and his lady. But today he would make an exception.

“Hey, Agreste, snap out of it. What were you thinking about?”

He smiled sheepishly and avoided Marinette’s eyes. Somehow he felt like he cheated on her when he wanted to see his lady.

“Uh, nothing in particular.”, he laughed and ruffled his hair on the back of his head, still not looking at any of them, “How much time is it? Isn’t the lunchbreak almost over?”

“Still ten minutes to go.”, Nino munched next to him, busy with his last slice of pizza. Alya leaned forward and took a bite when the brunette answered his best friend, leaving him dumbstruck when he suddenly found the girl hanging on his slice of pizza, “Hey! That’s my pizza!”

The young reporter giggled and chewed, shooting him a mischievous grin.

Nino gestured with his slice and scolded Alya, teaching her to not take a bite of his pizza. When the slice passed his face, Adrien took a quick bite too. His best friend’s gaze turned to him disbelievingly and he gaped when the blonde chewed with a grin on his face.

“I don’t believe it! Guys, don’t touch my pizza, it’s mine! It’s holy to me!”

Marinette laughed and the young DJ rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, okay, you have a bite, too. But c’mon people, you already had your pizza!”, he gave Marinette the slice and she happily took a bite.

“It’s not our fault you’re eating slowly!”, Alya countered.

“Hey, I’m enjoying. And I had much to talk about. If I hadn’t done most of the talking, you would all sit here and still eat while I would be stealing your pizza. I took one for the team!”

“And you’re giving to the team, too! We’re so proud of you.”, Adrien wrapped an arm around Nino’s shoulders and teased him by attempting to have another bite from the significantly shrunken slice.

“Yeah, I’m such a hero.”, he replied sarcastically.

 _Strange, Marinette flinched by the mention of the word ‘hero’_ , Adrien thought, _but meh, so many mysteries._

 

Adrien paced in his room, waiting until Plagg had eaten up his camembert.

“Kid, you’ve been Chat Noir literally just two nights ago.”

“So what?”

“No Akuma, no duty, not necessary. You don’t need to run over these roofs.”

“Yeah I need to! I wanna see my lady.”

“So you want to.”

“No I need to!”

“You just said you want to!”

“And I need it! Ugh, Plagg, shut up and eat your camembert.”

His Kwami rolled his eyes but Adrien didn’t miss the tiny smile. He waited for Plagg to swallow his last bite to transform.

_“Plagg, claws out!”_

Seconds later, Chat Noir was running around, looking for his lady. He feared he was too early or too late and right as he was about to give up and head home again, after an hour of searching Paris, he finally saw her jumping towards the Eiffel tower. He decided to surprise her when she was there.

As soft footed as a cat he neared her as she was standing on the edge, overlooking their city.

Quickly, he grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back just a little bit, whispering into her ear.

“Don’t slip, my lady.”

She gasped and turned around, only to roll her eyes at his chesire grin and push him back playfully. He fell back and dramatically placed the back of his hand on his forehead.

“You wound me, my lady. Is it not _claw_ some to see me?”

“Not anymore. Not after this horrible pun.”

“You mean, after this _paw_ ful pun?”

She rolled her eyes again and turned her back to him but he noticed the little amused smile that played around her lips.

“So, why are you here, Chat?”

He sat down and gestured her to sit next to him. She did and he attempted to wrap an arm around her shoulders but she only prodded his nose to keep him at arm’s length.

“I was lonely! And I wanted to see you. Is it this _cat_ astrophic wanting to see my lady?”

“Your puns are terrible, Chat.”, she giggled and he grinned wider.

“Maybe. But did you know that puns testify to great intelligence? Because of connecting words and replacing certain syllables through some similar sounding words?”

“Well, then you are looking your puns up on the internet.”

“Me _ouch_! My lady, why are we so _mew_ n today?”

“Okay Chat, that’s it, I’m leaving.”, she laughed but didn’t stand up, “Stop it with your puns!”

“I can’t! Such Chat, much puns!”

She looked at him disbelievingly.

“Memes? Really?! Okay, that’s it. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but-… Please go back to your puns.”

He threw his head into his neck and laughed loudly, after a while laying back and holding his stomach.

“C’mon, my lady! It escalated quickly but one does not simply roast Chat Noir!”

She cringed and finally got to her feet.

“Okay, that’s really too much.”, she shook her head and laughed, “See you around!”

Quickly, he brushed off the laughter and grabbed her hand, stopping her.

“No, seriously, I wanted to talk to you. Puns and memes aside.”

Ladybug turned and looked at him, eyes wide.

“Did something happen? Is it serious? You’re not quitting, are you?!”

He shook his head and smiled, calming her. They sat down again and he kneaded his hands.

“ _Uh_ , so, there are these things I wanted to ask you.”

She tilted her head and shot him a questioning glance.

“So, _uh_ , somebody is crushing on two girls. The first is out of his league but he believes she is his true love and the second is a cute girl who is crushing on him, too. He knows he can only be with one and has feelings for both of them but can’t decide whether to turn down the second and keep trying to get the first to like him or to stop pining after the first and get together with the second, the girl that’s crushing on him.”

Ladybug smirked and he knew that she knew exactly he was talking about himself. Luckily for him she only knew about his love for her, the out-of-his-league-girl.

“Which Anime are you talking about?”, she asked out of kindness, to make it easier for him.

“ _Uh_ -… Some Anime-… It’s called-… ‘Shinjitsu no koi’ – ‘true love’. _Uuh_ , and it’s not finished and I’m craving the finale and I wanted to know what you’re thinking about it.”

She leaned back and suppressed her smile. She knew it was serious to him and she didn’t want to be unhelpful.

“Well, you’re saying the first, the girl out of his league, will never notice him?”

He flinched, then tilted his head.

“I-… I wouldn’t say that. She cares for him but not the same way he does for her. And she will never do because she is in love herself. With someone he doesn’t know. Well, yeah, and what should he do?”

Ladybug let her legs dangle and thought about what to say next.

“Well, I think he’s going to get together with the girl that likes him too. He deserves someone to care about him as much as he does and someone who wants to actually get to know him.”, she said. A sad undertone to her voice told him she probably thought about this someone she was in love with herself, “He should give the second girl a chance. She loves him and if he’s making her happy then perhaps he’ll be, too?”

He thought about that, thought about Marinette and the girl that sat next to him and found himself unable to decide.

“I’ll-… I’ll probably just wait for the finale. Thanks for your advice, my lady.”

He got up and left without another word, close to tears. He didn’t know what to do. When he was with Marinette he forgot Ladybug and vice versa.

 

Confused, Adrien let himself fall onto his bed and buried his head in his pillows. Plagg all the while sat on his desk, munching camembert and shook his head.  
“You’re moping around like someone who just learned that half of humanity is going to die. Get over it, kid, and eat cheese. Cheese is simple and doesn’t hurt.”

“Unless you eat too much of it.”, the blonde countered and looked up to find Plagg already opening the next camembert, “Like you. Don’t you feel sick after some time?”

“Kiddo, I’m a Kwami that eats cheese. I can’t possibly get sick.”

Adrien shook his head and hid his face in his pillow again.  
“Plagg, I’m clueless. I love Ladybug but everytime I think about her, Marinette comes to my mind. I really, really like Marinette but it’s the same story with Ladybug. And when I’m with either of them, there’s nothing in the world but us two. Ladybug mesmerizes me while Marinette amazes me and the other way around!”

Plagg looked disgusted.

“I love cheese, but that’s too cheesy, even for me.”

Adrien shot him a dead glare, declaring Plagg as the most unhelpful friend he’s ever had.

“I need help, Plagg! Why don’t you want to help me?”, he whined.

The Kwami set aside his camembert and flew over to his chosen one, hugging his cheek again.

“Look, kid, I want to help you – don’t look at me like that I’m not lying – but I just think you should sort out the other problem first: Your nightmares. It’s what got you into this mess, right? Talk to Marinette! Ask Alya to help you talking to her. Then you can think about which girl you love.”

The young model rolled on his back and stared up at the ceiling, speechless.

“… Plagg?”, he breathed after a while.

“Yeah, kid?”

“I love you.”

“Buy me more cheese and we can talk about me loving you back.”

Adrien started laughing and didn’t stop until his stomach hurt. When he finally took a deep breath, Plagg hovered in front of his face.

“No really, I’m serious. Buy me more cheese.”

“All the cheese you want.”

“I love you, kid!”


	8. Lady Wifi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The worst dream and Adrien kinda loses it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That dream scared me while writing. I'm not even joking.

_Lady Wifi smiled, pressing the knife to Marinette’s throat. Adrien stood motionless, trying to fight against the invisible chains that held him in place. He knew her, he knew Lady Wifi’s identity and he knew he had to prevent that the bluenette was killed by her best friend._

_“Alya, don’t do that! Alya, no, that’s your best friend!”_

_“I don’t care! She’s going to die, and your miserable face is the last thing she’ll see!”_

_Adrien fought against his tears and resisted the urge to scream, tried to get himself together. He wanted to explode, wanted to do something, anything to help both of them._

_“Adrien…”, Marinette whispered fearfully, her voice almost not audible because her panic took all her air, “Please…”_

_Lady Wifi laughed and created a thin line of blood, resulting in a few drops that trailed down her neck. The blonde was so scared he felt like his own dream wasn’t big enough for his feelings anymore. He felt like everything moved around him, like everything wanted to restrict him, everything wanted to press him tightly to a ball and never want him to move ever again. He tried to break free while falling to his knees, tried to give himself a little room, but white walls formed themselves around him, forced him to breathe out and never breathe in again, stole all the air and hope he has ever had._

_“N-No-… D-Don’t-… Don’t take her away f-from me-…!”, he screamed, at the top of his lungs, but everything he managed was a painfully silent whisper._

_“I’ll take her and you will watch!”, Lady Wifi’s voice was suddenly so much too loud, too close to him and he couldn’t do anything other but listen._

_“Adrien! Adrien, I don’t want to die savemeIdon’twanttodiesavemepleaseAdrienIdon’t-…”, Marinette’s words flowed into each other, making them an undecipherable mess for Adrien. She screamed at him, trying to make him understand, trying to make him save her from the deadly hand of her best friend._

_“No! No, stop! Don’t, don’t do that to me, go away! Go away, Lady Wifi! I defeated you a long time ago, you’re not there any longer! You’re dead! You’re dead! You’re dead, Lady Wifi!”_

_Someone cackled and he couldn’t identify whether it was Lady Wifi or even Marinette._

_“She’s there! She’s deep inside me and craves to break out again! She’s craving for blood and the next time she comes back, she wants it!”_

_Adrien pressed the palms of his hands to his ears and hoped it would finally stop, hoped he would somehow get out, get silence, get away! Out, out somewhere, somewhere silent where nobody would scream at him!_

_Marinette yelled and he forced himself to look up. The images blurred and faded but constantly pierced back into his eyes. Marinette on the floor, Marinette with an open throat, blood, blood, way too much blood everywhere, it was clinging to him, making it difficult to breathe, restricting him, bounding his arms to his body and he screamed, screamed, screamed until he felt like his voice burst out of his body, like his throat caught fire. Marinette lying there, in the red, red, crimson blood, her eyes wide open, her throat open, everything open, Lady Wifi towering above her and grinning, grinning until her face was parted. He tried to breathe, tried to break free but the chains around his body, the chains of blood kept him on the white, white floor, kept him motionless like Marinette was, kept him inhumanly cold like she was. Dead, dead, dead, dead, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe Adrien…!_

 

He awoke with a huge gasp of air.

Plagg punched his cheek like crazy, obviously trying to wake him up. He sighed relieved, sounding like he actually had been scared to death because of his chosen.

“Finally you’re awake! I’ve been trying for around ten minutes now but you just wouldn’t wake up! I tried to stop you from strangling yourself with your own blanket and I _almost failed_ , Adrien! You _need_ to do something about this!”

Adrien nodded, in shock from his dream and that it had been Lady Wifi, why did it have to be her?! Her of all people, her who he trusted with his nightmares the most, her who had only tried to help him!

He shook his head, not listening to Plagg’s scolding. Finally, his Kwami understood that this time, it had been way worse than he had thought in the first place.

“Adrien?”

“… Plagg?”, a hoarse whisper was everything he could manage.

Without another warning, Adrien threw the blanket off him and stood up, beginning to pace around in his room, trying to get as much room as possible. He stretched and kept his limbs as far away from each other as possible while Plagg hovered around him curiously and worried, asking many questions that Adrien didn’t understand.

Finally, he felt comfortable in his own body again and turned to face his now raging Kwami.

“Th-This time-… It was-… It had been Alya.”, he explained, trembling.

Plagg immediately shut up and looked at him, saw the pupil unnaturally widened now that Adrien stood in the light of a lantern. His chosen was way too pale too, almost as white as the sheets he has slept in.

“Kid, you’re actually in shock from that nightmare. You’re in shock, like after a car accident or something.”, the green in Adrien’s irises almost had vanished completely to make room for his pupils, making him look like he had black eyes instead of green.

The little Kwami pinched the boy and became slightly scared when he didn’t get a reaction.

“Hey, Adrien, you should probably call someone. Either an ambulance or Alya.”

The blonde slowly shook his head, his eyes widening in terror.

“N-N-Not L-L-Lady W-Wifi-…”

“Kid, Lady Wifi’s long defeated. She’s no longer there. Look, I’m giving you the choice. You have to talk to someone who either knows Marinette or knows how to get you out of this shock. And I can’t do either of that.”

Adrien seemed to understand and squinted his eyes. He let out a forced moan and when he looked up, he seemed way more collected than before.

“A-Alya th-then…”

Plagg nodded, proud of his chosen.

“I’m getting your phone, you go and sit down here.”

The young model nodded and sat down on his couch, leaning back. The little Kwami unplugged his phone and brought it to his chosen, letting it drop into his lap. He then unlocked it to type in Alya’s number. When it dialed, Plagg lifted it up to Adrien’s ear where his human finally took it with a trembling hand.

_“Ugh-… Adrien? Is that you? How are you?”_ , her sleepy voice echoed through the room and Adrien’s eyes widened. He looked like he was about to cry when he finally answered.

“A-Alya-…”, he whispered and his friend immediately knew something was horribly wrong.

_“What is it, Adrien?”_

He swallowed and tried to stay in reality when his mind constantly pulled his thoughts back to his nightmare.

“It-… It was Lady Wifi this time.”

He heard her gasp and silence filled the call.

_“I-… I’m sorry…”_ , she mumbled but he shook his head.

“It wasn’t you-… Well, Lady Wifi had been you but you’re not Lady Wifi anymore. It was just-… The dream itself-… My nightmare-…”

_“What’s going on Adrien?”_ , she asked, worry clouding her voice.

“Well-… It felt like my o-own nightmare tried to suffocate me-…”

Silence again.

_“You need to talk to Marinette. It will stop then, but please, you have to. Otherwise, I will do.”_

“N-No, I’ll do it. In school tomorrow. Then I’ll talk to her, just-… F-For the moment-… Stay with me-…”

_“I will, Adrien. Just keep calm and breathe. I’m here for you.”_

 

Adrien awoke with a massive headache. He had talked with Alya until they both had realized they only had two hours of sleep left until they had to get up again for school. He groaned and slowly sat up, trying to shake off the tiredness.

“Plagg?”

His Kwami happily snored. Adrien prodded him and the tiny god of destruction yawned.

“… Huh?”, he groggily replied, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“You said I was in shock, Plagg. Do I still look like that?”

“Kiddo, let me wake up first. Go wash yourself or something, then I can tell you more.”

The blonde rolled his eyes and got up, entering his bathroom.

After he was finished showering and putting on his clothes, he stepped into his room again and found Plagg hovering in front of the door.

“Lemme take a look…”, he mumbled and looked deeply into Adrien’s eyes, “Yeah, your pupils are still dilated a little bit. I guess they’re gonna stay that way for a short while, but in school it should have gone back already.”

The boy nodded, getting ready for school. He really hoped it would not be too obvious.

 

When he stepped into the classroom, Alya’s and Marinette’s eyes instantly were fixed on him.

“’Morning, Nino.”, he mumbled while he sat down, avoiding the girl’s gazes. He kept his head down but heard the bluenette whisper something to her best friend, probably asking what was up. His best friend leaned to him, nudging his shoulder.

“You okay, man?”

“Y-Yeah-… Didn’t sleep well, sorry.”

“Man, you really need to change something about that.”

He nodded, still not meeting anyone’s gaze.

“I will.”

 

Luckily, during the first half of their school day, his friend’s managed to cheer him up again. Alya was a bit more distant to Marinette which really helped Adrien laugh again. They joked around which really brought a smile to the blonde’s face. And after Marinette getting revenge on him, starting the pick-up lines war again, his mood couldn’t be better. So, when lunchbreak arrived after math class, Adrien leaned back, his arms crossed behind his head, and looked at his friends upside down.

“Hey girls?”, they both looked at him questioningly, Marinette blushing slightly as he winked at her, “Wanna grab a bite with Nino and me? We could go to the little café like a few days ago.”

Nino inconspicuously nudged his leg, approving of the idea.

“Yeah, of course. You too, Marinette?”

The bluenette nodded and grinned, too.

“Perfect! Let’s go!”

They all got up and stepped outside the school, heading towards the café, Nino and Marinette laughing in the front again.

“So, you really like Nino, huh?”

Alya blushed a little, something Adrien couldn’t remember to ever have seen. The brunette’s best friend blushed all the time, granted, but he had never thought to see Alya turn red as well.

“Well, maybe. But don’t stick your curious little nose into everything, Agreste.”, he leaned in and grinned knowingly, “Back off already, c’mon!”

She pushed him back on his forehead and he pretended to be dying because of her touch to make her laugh. Right in this moment, Marinette turned around to find out what they were laughing about and just as Adrien’s and her gaze met, he turned red too, stumbling and falling flat in front of her feet.

“Ouch-…”, he mumbled, but it wasn’t his body that hurt.

“Oh my god Adrien, are you okay?”, Marinette kneeled next to him and as fast as he could, he got on his knees and rubbed the back of his head, laughing.

“Yeah, everything alright. Nothing’s scratched or bruised, I’m just _uh_ a little clumsy, haha.”

She nodded and stood up again. He followed her lead and they continued their way to the café. Alya had problems suppressing her laughter as he bit his lower lip and stared at the smaller girl’s dark blue hair that walked in front of him, trying to recollect his remaining dignity.

“Not funny…”, he growled at Alya who finally released a voiceless laughter, “That was embarrassing.”

“Well, I think it was funny.”, she giggled, “You’re just too cute, I can’t help it!”

He growled one more time before they reached the café.

_Okay, so questioning Alya about Nino didn’t work_ , he thought, _but maybe I can try to get closer to Marinette?_

He pulled out the chair for her and playfully mimicked the gentleman. They all laughed as he started to imitate the British gentlemen he had always met on his father’s parties. After ordering their food, Adrien raised his hand.

“My treat, by the way! I’m paying.”

It resulted in a huge protest from his three friends but he didn’t let them get through to him. After a few minutes, they gave up and he cheered. It was the first time he was actually spending his money to make his friends happy and it was special to him.

When he was finished eating, he noticed Nino attempting to flirt with Alya and she was happily responding. His foot brushed Marinette’s and she looked startled, but as soon as he gestured to their friends she began to smile.

“Hey guys? I forgot I had a bit of homework to do and Marinette volunteered to help me out! See you guys in class!”

He got up and pulled Marinette out of her chair with him, they both rushing to leave the café. They waited until they were out of sight and then burst with laughter.

“Did you see their faces? Oh my gosh, I thought Nino would try to bury himself right on the spot!”, he chuckled. She steadied herself on his shoulder and held her stomach.

“And Alya! Man, I think she was about to kill you!”

They both laughed as they returned to the school, making up stories about how it would go for their friends from there on. Marinette imagined them not coming back to school but instead having a beautiful romantic date and then riding into the sunset and kissing behind a hand fan.

Adrien created a story in which Nino turned out to be a ninja and Alya was a spy and they originally worked against each other but found their love and decided to go against the system to fight for their relationship. In the end, he let the girl walking next to him decide whether they lived or died – and Marinette chose life, of course.

They reached the school and until then, they had three more stories of what could happen to their friends. Both their stomachs ached because of laughing so much. It was when they walked up the steps to the schoolyard when they met Chloé.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Of course, you annoy Adrien with your pathetic presence while I could make his lunchbreak enjoyable.”

Adrien rolled his eyes and stepped in front of Marinette.

“I chose to spend my lunchbreak with her and I’m happy I did. Back off, Chloé.”

His nightmare with Antibug flashed in his memories and he flinched. A deep growl escaped his throat, something he didn’t know he could do until now, but luckily neither of the two girls noticed.

“ _Puh_ -lease, Adrikins. She’s not worthy to even walk next to you. In contrary, I am-…”

The young model wrapped his arm around Marinette’s tiny waist, his fingers almost brushing her pants, and led her past Chloé. The mayor’s daughter was so shocked she didn’t even try to stop them.

“C’mon, Marinette. She’s not worthy to talk to you.”


	9. Lady Wifi (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the last chapter, hope you enjoyed the story!

The bluenette in his arms swayed, probably because her knees wobbled, and was bright red. He didn’t remove his hand until they sat on a bench in the schoolyard, tempted to let it stay there but then decided to let Marinette form a coherent sentence again.  
“Th-Thanks, Adrien-…”, she stuttered, “F-For standing up for m-me-…”

He smiled and leaned back, lightly brushing her shoulder.

“Oh, it’s no big deal. Chloé shouldn’t talk to you like that, and because I’m obviously the only one she listens to, it’s my duty to protect you.”, he tried to stifle a yawn but failed. Marinette noticed and turned to him.

“Okay, what’s up with your tiredness? You’ve not been sleeping well for days now, are you okay?”

This was his chance. He knew he had to talk to her and he knew this was the perfect opportunity.

“I don’t know why, but I’ve been having these dreams. Nightmares. It’s always, well, a random Akuma and-… you.”

She tilted her head and he sighed, burying his face in his hands.

“You’re always dead in the end and it’s always the same story. The Akuma holds you hostage and I can’t do anything until they cut open your, _ahem_ , your throat.”, he took a deep breath and looked at her, only to turn away again, “I’m always too weak, to slow to save you and in the end, I failed once again. Alya knows of that and she helped me for a few nights now and she told me I’d have to talk to you to end this.”

Marinette nodded and placed a hand on his knee.

“I-… I’m here for you, Adrien. Talk to me and the nightmares will stop, hopefully.”

He knew it had taken all her courage to speak to him like that. And he was proud she did.

“Well, Alya says the meaning of my dreams are that either you leave my life or I’ll see you in a completely different light, like discovering a big secret of yours.”

She smiled nervously and he pulled together his eyebrows, questioningly.

“But I already see you in a different way. I always noticed how kind and caring you are and as soon as I, well-…”, he stumbled over his words, not sure how to say this, “I saw you differently and I certainly don’t want you leaving my life.”

She took a deep breath and removed her hand on his knee. She sat up straighter and bit her lip.

“Well, if you have to see me in a different light to stop these nightmares, then maybe it’ll help if I told you that-… That, uh, IreallyreallylikeyouasinIhaveahugecrushonyouAdrien!”, she babbled, squinting her eyes.

He smiled, placing his hand in her knee instead and waited until she had opened her eyes again.

“I-… I’m sorry, but I already know. And that’s not how I see you in a different light, _uh_ , not that I’m rejecting you!”, he quickly said as her shoulders slumped, “I-… I think I have a crush on you, too.”

The stars in her eyes made everything better for him, made him forget that he really suffered under these nightmares.

“And I don’t care about my nightmares as long as you don’t leave my life as I know you now.”

They both smiled, but soon Marinette turned to look away and kneaded her hands.

“But-… Then they won’t stop if you already know about my crush.”

He shrugged and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“I know. But I’d have a thousand nightmares just to keep you by my side.”

She giggled and he had to laugh too, keeping them occupied for the next few minutes.

“So-… If you have a crush on me too and-… If there is to result something out of it-…”, she tried to be polite but he lifted her face up to his with a hand under her chin and caught her gaze.

“You mean if we could be a thing?”

She turned red in a matter of seconds but tried to keep getting to her point.

“W-Well-… Yeah-… I-If, right?”, she laughed nervously but got serious once more, “But there is something I would like to tell you before that. It might help you see me in a totally different light, too and I just don’t want to start something that could end up badly because I hadn’t been honest with you…”

He tilted his head and already expected the worst. She sighed deeply, closing her eyes and opening them again, locking his gaze with hers.

“I’m Ladybug.”

The world began to spin and he had to lean back. His vision blurred and black spots danced in front of his eyes but he never broke the connection between their eyes.

“A-Are you okay?”, she asked, stretching out a hand to steady him on his shoulder, looking at him worriedly.

“Y-You-…”, he forced out, a wide smile sneaking onto his lips.

“Yeah-… I’m her. You’re probably shocked? Are you gonna faint?”

He barely managed to shake his head and let his glance wander over her body, comparing Ladybug to her. He imagined her in a Ladybug costume and suddenly, everything made sense.

“S-S-So you’re-… I-… I’m-… I’m so freaking relieved.”

She tilted her head as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. He hadn’t thought this through, hadn’t prepared himself or her. After a few shock moments, she closed her eyes and kissed him back, her soft lips moving against his. They parted after a few moments and looked at each other, panting lightly.

“So it’s you… I’m so relieved I didn’t fall for two girls but instead for the same girl twice!”

She looked at him confused and opened her mouth to ask him what he was talking about when he already continued, “Well, and now I’m hoping you can fall for my other self as I did for yours-… My lady?”

That’s when she fainted. He laid her back on the bench and chuckled when he searched for a bottle of water in his bag. He found it, along with a few tissues. He let a few drops trickle onto the tissue and placed it on her forehead, waiting for her to wake up again. But right as he leaned back again, Alya and Nino entered the schoolyard.

He bolted and sat straight, staring at them and hoping that either they wouldn’t spot them or that Marinette would miraculously awake _right now_. He swallowed when he thought about Alya’s temper. She could actually rip him in two when he didn’t have a proper explanation for this.

And luckily for him – of course – Alya saw him sitting and Marinette lying on this bench and he already imagined her rolling up her sleeves if they hadn’t already been rolled up.

“Hey Adrien.”, she waved and came over, followed by Nino, “What’s up with Marinette?”

He grinned nervously and placed a hand over the bluenette’s.

“Sh-She fainted?”, he tried.

Alya’s jaw dropped and she stared at her best friend in disbelief. Then she looked at him again. He gulped.

“… Agreste, why did she faint?”

“And that’s when Adrien knew… He fucked up.”, Nino chuckled, receiving a dead glare from his best friend.

“Look, it-… It just happened and she should be fine. She’s only out for a few minutes… I hope.”

“And what does ‘I hope’ mean?”, she questioned, readjusting her glasses. Adrien never knew that move could be so intimidating, but when it came to Alya protecting her best friend, he learned to never question. It only ended bad when he did.

“Alya, it should be fine. She’s gonna wake up any second now and she’ll be fine.”

The brunette in front of him still looked unconvinced but nodded and sat down on the bench, lifting Marinette’s head to rest it on her lap. She stroked her best friend’s hair and continued to stare at him like he had just robbed a bank. He felt uncomfortable and instead began a discussion with Nino about what they had done in math class and which results were right. And luckily for Adrien – this time for real – Marinette awoke a few minutes later.

“Ugh-… Alya?”, she rubbed her head and glanced up to her smiling best friend.

“Yeah, I’m here girl. How are you feeling?”

The bluenette wanted to sit up but her best friend kept her from trying.

“A little dizzy but otherwise fine. It’s gonna go away soon. What-…”

“What did Adrien do to make you faint?”

“A-Adrien? To make me-… Oh. This.”

She finally sat up and looked at Adrien, silently asking him if he made up an excuse. He shook his head and she lightly nodded.

“We were talking about-… About his nightmares. He told me about this and I fainted because it’s awful. Right Adrien?”

He nodded, grinning gratefully.

“I’m sorry, Marinette.”

She grinned back and placed a hand on his arm, reassuring him that she didn’t forget what they had really been talking about.

“It’s alright. And I think you’re feeling better now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, thanks to you. Are you okay?”

She nodded and grinned at Alya who eyed her suspiciously.

“Now I am again, thank you.”

He smiled at her and lost himself in her eyes, in these bluebell eyes he had fallen for twice. She did too and they got closer to each other but that’s when Nino reminded them that he and Alya were still there.

“Uh, Adrien… What nightmares?”

“Long story Nino. Very long story.”, all three replied.

 

Adrien awoke again. He looked around confusedly, asking where the nightmare had been. He only then understood his nightmare phase obviously was over and he only woke up because he had woken up an entire week at this time and he just did it this night because he had gotten used to it. Shaking his head and smiling, he laid back down.

After all, the faster he fell asleep again, the faster he would see his lady in school.

Adrien slept with a smile that night.


End file.
